The Utterly Cliche, Slightly Discombobulating Feeling Called Love
by The Eclectic Bookworm
Summary: Remus Lupin had no intention of falling in love with anyone, let alone a witch with a full life that he could easily destroy. Nymphadora Tonks was still reeling from a heartbreak that she'd never seen coming, and hid her sorrows behind a mask of jokes and happiness. But when she rips her coat sleeve and falls into his arms, something happens that neither of them originally wanted.
1. You're a rainbow

**Hello!**

**So I really shouldn't be starting anything new because I need to work on No, Seriously (if you haven't read it you should really check it out, I'm very proud of it so far) but this is for the Pride and Prejudice Challenge on HPFC and Ronks is my OTP, so I shall do my best to do this pairing justice.**

**Let's just all cross our fingers and hope for the best.**

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Remus Lupin took a sip of tea.

He enjoyed tea, chamomile to be precise, mostly for its connection to his childhood. His mother had always made him chamomile tea. It was also helping him calm his nerves. This was the first Order meeting, and a new member was being brought in by Mad-Eye.

This was probably why Mad-Eye was late.

"She's my cousin, actually," Sirius told him. "Or my cousin's kid. Nymphadora. Except I think she hates that name, haven't seen her since she was this tiny little thing with pink hair. She's a Metamorphmagus, apparently."

Remus nodded distantly, only half hearing Sirius. "How old is she?"

"Twenty-two, about, I think. That makes me thirteen when she was born, if my memory serves me correctly. Yeah, we got this stupid flowery birth announcement and you guys teased me about it, asked if I had a secret admirer or something."

Remus chortled politely, but there was a quiver in his laugh. How would this Nymphadora react to having to work alongside a werewolf?

Heaven only knew.

Then came the sound of the door opening, (a quiet sound so Walburga wouldn't start screaming again) and he glanced up apprehensively.

Mad-Eye came in first.

"Here, Remus, mind helping Tonks out? She's having some issues with her coat, it's stuck in the door and I figured you'd be the one to get it out. You're good with that."

Mad-Eye's motives seemed crystal clear to Remus. The old wizard wanted Tonks to see him in a good light, trying to help with something that couldn't possibly happen (how the hell can you get a coat stuck in a door?) before she found out he was a werewolf. But since when had that made any difference?

Remus got up reluctantly, still holding the cup of chamomile tea, and walked uncertainly into the hallway, where he was met with a surprising sight.

A figure with seaweed-green hair was tugging at a gorgeous gray coat with its sleeve stuck in the door. She pulled too hard, there was a ripping sound, and she catapulted backward into Remus with a shriek of surprise.

"Oh _damn,_ I'm so sorry!" she blurted in a whisper, turning around and staring up at Remus guiltily with large violet eyes. "I didn't mean to-"

"Here. Let me repair your coat." Remus opened the door carefully, letting the sleeve fall to the ground, before tapping the grey coat and saying, "Reparo."

The sleeve zoomed to the coat, good as new, and Remus handed the girl the coat and shut the door.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Remus Lupin," he commented. "I like your coat."

The girl-Tonks-rolled her eyes at him and smirked. "Yeah, I'm going to rip everything in this house apart by accident. I'm like that."

She had eyes the color of cinnamon with little flecks of pink, and Remus suddenly noticed that the ends of her hair were blue and the edges of her coat had purple paint splattered over them.

She seemed to be indecisive of the color.

"You're a rainbow," Remus stated with a smile.

Tonks grinned at him. "I get that a lot."

Both of them laughed, and then Remus realized that she was still leaning against him. He jumped back hastily, his head connecting with the portrait. He hated to make a bad impression...

"MUDBLOODS AND FILTHY HALF-BREEDS! CONTAMINATING THE HOUSE OF BLACK!"

Remus swore softly as Sirius came charging out.

"SHUT UP!" he roared, flicking his wand and obscuring the portrait of Walburga Black from view with the old, moth-eaten curtains before turning with a grin to Tonks and sweeping her into a hug. "Excellent, Nymphie's here! Let's have some fun!"

Tonks laughed, her hair turning from green to a neon yellow before settling on green again. "Don't scare me like that, you bugger!"

Sirius smirked. "You know you love me, Nymphadora T-"

Tonks shoved him. "Don't you dare call me that, you idiot!"

"Hah, I'm a bugger, an idiot, what else?"

"A dog?" suggested Remus mildly.

Sirius stared at his friend, startled, before letting out a short bark of laughter. "Right, yeah, I forgot how well you know me, Moony."

"Moony?" asked Tonks curiously. "Is that because of your...condition?"

She asked it quietly, cautiously, as if treading lightly. As if trying not to hurt his feelings.

Had she already known?

"Well, ah, er," hedged Remus awkwardly.

Tonks nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I expect it is." And then, "It's not your fault that you're a werewolf." She groaned. "Oh Merlin, that sounds so insensitive, I'm so sorry. You know what I mean, right? I mean that the werewolf and you are two different people…wolves...beings? Whatever. You and the werewolf-oh damn, I mean you and the wolf-or would it be you and the werewolf?" Remus was laughing very hard at this point. To be honest, it was harder than he had laughed in years.

Tonks grinned. "My stupidity doesn't usually garner such an explosive reaction."

"Is...she...really related...to...you?" wheezed Remus.

Sirius smirked. "I know. I'm one of a kind."

"No...Tonks is...better."

"Hey!"

Tonks was the one with the smirk at that point. "Shall we go and commence with the meeting?"

"Come with me, fair lady," teased Sirius lightly, and Remus was even more amused when Tonks became taller, more slender, with long golden hair and large blue eyes.

"That fair enough for you, Riri?"

"Don't-how do you-_never call me that in front of Moony!_"

"So away from Moony is okay?" Tonks shot back playfully, and Remus laughed again. There was something quite remarkable about this witch that he could not yet place.

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**Hope you liked the first chapter! I'll probably be a little slow updating, though.**

**Reviews?**

**-The Eclectic Bookworm**


	2. I would give you the moon

**So I'm doing my own take on this, and I'm horribly afraid that I'm making Tonks seem OOC. Let me know what you think in a review, pretty please?**

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"And this concludes our meeting," Dumbledore stated, glancing at his watch.

Tonks hastily stood up. "Listen, I live in a dodgy part of town. I need to get home before it gets too dark."

Molly Weasley nodded worriedly. "Be safe, sweetheart."

This made Tonks blush. Molly had been like an aunt throughout her years at Hogwarts, even though she'd witnessed Tonks break up with her son (and Tonks' ex-best friend-slash-boyfriend) Charlie right before he left for Romania. A huge part of Tonks still loved Charlie, to be honest, but another part knew that Charlie had chosen his dragons over her.

_I would give you the moon if you would only take me with you, Charlie._

She shook off the memories like water. If she tarried, the Dark warlocks would be out by the time she Apparated home. Goodness knows she had enough to deal with already.

_I'll marry you. You know I would marry you. And we could be together forever._

She smiled again, this time slightly forced. Then she inclined her head to Remus and Sirius and turned away.

"You live in a dodgy part of town?" echoed Remus suddenly, and Tonks turned back again, her tresses changing to the short, curly ebony of the warlocks' hair without her noticing.

Her traitorous hair, unlocked by strong emotion, had given her secret away.

Nearly all the members of the Order winced, and Remus stood up. "I'll go with you. Dark warlocks are a nasty-"

Tonks shook her head hastily. "Oh no, I couldn't trouble you like that! And most of them live on my floor anyway, I just have to lock the door with everything I know, spend a couple hours barricading-" she stopped, then swore loudly. "It's already dark, I'll be horribly late."

Remus had pressed his lips into a firm line. "I understand that it would be a major hit to your pride to be escorted like a schoolgirl. However, I believe that living within a community of Dark warlocks is too dangerous for anyone but the best duelers to risk."

Tonks nodded slightly. "All right, so what would you have me do then?"

"I'll pick up your things tomorrow morning, but it would be more advisable to stay here for tonight at least," Remus replied. "We can find a different living arrangement for you-we don't want one of our members getting killed before Voldemort-"-here many Order members winced, aside from Albus Dumbledore- "-is even out in the open."

Tonks nodded slightly. "I'll stay the night."

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Remus led her to one of the bedrooms, and told her "Wake me if there's anything you need" before hurrying to his room. And so she lay there, drowsy but not willing to fall asleep in this strange new house and without her stuffed teddy from Charlie.

_Charlie._

Tonks did not like the night. Because at night, memories of him shattered the illusion that she'd gotten over him years ago.

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"_Charlie, Charlie, sweetheart, listen," she begged him. "Please. I'll do anything, anything for you. I don't want you to leave me."_

"_People make choices, Dora." His voice betrayed no emotion besides brusqueness. He was talking to her like one might a pest, an annoyance. "I hope that you'll accept mine. Our time together was wonderful, but you know first loves don't last."_

_She grabbed hold of the front of his robes. "Please, please don't leave me! I would give you the moon if you would only take me with you, Charlie."_

"_I've made my decision, Dora. Dragons are my life. You know that. You've known that for a long time, and I already told you I was going back." Charlie shook her off impatiently. "I need to pack."_

"_I'll marry you. You know I would marry you. And we could be together forever," she half-sobbed. "Forever, because I love you."_

"_Stop it! This is hard enough for me to do-"_

"_Then don't do it, please, please." She curled into his arms, sobbed softly into his robes. She was holding him, but he wasn't holding her._

* * *

Tonks jerked awake. No Charlie, no tears, just an old bedroom full of moth-eaten tapestries.

Her hair was long and blonde, just like it always was after dreams with him. He'd liked her hair blonde. He'd said it reminded him of silken rope.

She touched her hair lightly, because he'd always gripped it tightly when they were kissing. Because once upon a time _his _hands had been here, _his _fingers had raked through this part.

Then she cried softly, because she was the only one who knew that she was hurting from a long-ago fling that had lasted a year. Because she was only like this during the night. Because Charlie had loved her and that had been the one and only time that anyone had like _that_.

_It'll be better in the morning,_ she thought despairingly, horrible misery clawing at her stomach. _You're always fine when it's light out and you aren't alone._

But the pain was so real at night that this truth sounded like an empty lie to her.

She closed her eyes and drifted into a fitful sleep.

* * *

When her eyes opened again she only faintly remembered the awful sadness of the night and was able to get up, change her hair into a sleek blue bob, and get dressed before going downstairs.

"I'm going to go get your stuff," Remus told her. "You can stay here, if you wish, and socialize. I don't think that any of the children have met you yet?"

"Children?" echoed Tonks.

"Molly's children as well as Hermione Granger, a family friend."

"Ah." She'd met a few of the other Weasley children on occasion. By far her favorite had been the littlest, Ginny, a perceptive young twelve-year-old at the time she and Charlie had been going out. "Is Ginny here?"

"I believe so. Do you know her?"

And suddenly Tonks realized that Remus knew nothing of her past, unlike most of her other friends. Remus knew nothing about Charlie, nothing about her, and because of this he could be a better friend than anyone else she knew.

"I met her a while ago," Tonks replied nonchalantly. "But really I don't know much of her."

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**Reviews?**

**-The Eclectic Bookworm**


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